Machine for sorting hair.



J. NOGUER-USALL. MACHINE PoR SORTING HAIR.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII OY. 11, 1912.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. 'NoGUER-USALL.

MACHINE POR SORTING HAIR'.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.11; 1912.

1 ,090,560. Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J. NoGUBR-USALL MACHINE FOR SORTING HAIR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11, 1912. 1,090,560. Patented Mar. 17; 1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

euLUlmlA PLANOGIAPH cawAsHlNlrroN, D. C.

STATES PI T FIQE.

MACHINE FOR SORTING- HAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

Application filed November 11, 1912. Serial No. 730,650.

To all 107mm it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH NoGUnR-USALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New I-Iaven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Sorting Hair; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in-

Figure 1 a top or plan view of a machine for sorting hair constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 a front view of the same. Fig. 3 a side view. Fig. 4 a transverse sectional view. Fig. 5 a plan View of the upper pad holder detached. Fig. 6 a plan view of the lower pad holder detached. Fig. 7 a side view partially in section of the pad core. Figs. 8 and 9 are diagrammatic views showing the operation of the machine.

This invention relates' to an improvement in machines for sorting hair, that is, a machine which will separate a bunch of hair into two sections each of which leaves the root ends all in the same direction.

In the manufacture of false hair, and particularly the manufacture of wigs, it is necessary that the ends of the hair which are fastened should be the root ends of the hair. In the usual Vmethod of sorting hair, it is done entirely by the sense of feeling, the` hair having fiber which extends in one direction so that with a very fine sense of feeling by drawing the hair through the ngers the root end can be determined.

The obj ect of this invention is to provide` a machine which will sort hairs and thus` enable the operator to sort them with much greater rapidity than can be done with thel fingers; and the invention consists in the construction hereinafter described and particularly recited in the claims. c

In carrying out my invention, I employ two parallel friction pads the lower pad 2 being mounted upon a shaft 3 fixed against rotation, but adapted to be moved up and downbetween guides 4 in posts 5 mounted upon a table 6 which is suitably supported by legs 7, the ends of the shaft being forced upward by springs S adjusted by screws 9. Parallel with the shaft 3 is a rock shaft 10 one end being pivoted to a shaft 11 which is provided witht a slotted rocking arm 12. The other end is mounted in a socket 13 slidably mounted in the post 5 and a supportin g bracket 14. On the socket is a lingerpiece 15 by which it may be moved, and between the bracket 14 and the finger-piece is a spring 16 which tends to crowd the socket onto the rock-shaft 10.

On the rock shaft 10 is a pad 17. These pads 2 and 17 each comprise a central core 18 of metal surrounded by rubber or similar material 19 and located in the center of the shafts which are slotted to receive them and in which they are held in place bv screws 23, and these in turn are inclosed by va jacket 2O of cloth, rubber, leather or other suitable material, and the relative position of the pads is such that their parallel edges will stand close together. As a convenient means for holding these jackets and to permit of their being renewed when required, the edges of the jackets are folded about wire rods 21 the ends of which are hooked over lugs 22 mount-ed on the said shafts. The curve of the frictional working surface of each pad is, yas shown, struck on a smaller radius than the radius of the motion of the curved working surface of the rocking pad, so that owing to the fact that one pad is only movable vertically and normally lies in the path of the other pad, and the other pad has a movement across the surface of the vertically movable pad and depresses the vertically movable pad as it passes over it, the plane of tangeney between the two pads is constantly changing during the swinging or rocking motion of the upper pad. The rock shaft 11 is oscillated, by connecting the slotted arm 12 by a link 24 with a crank 25V on a shaft 26 carrying a pinion 27 meshing with a gear 23 on a driving shaft 29, this gear being driven by a crank handle 30, or it may be driven by power otherwise applied.

Forward 0f and parallel with the shafts .3 and 10 are two combs 31, 32, each adjustably mounted at the upper ends of comb arms 33, 34. These arms are respectively connected with cranks 46, 47, on the driving shaft 29, and the lower ends of the arms are adjustably mounted in sockets 35 pivotally connected at the ends of links 36 which are mounted on an adjusting shaft 37 carried by the upper end of links 38 which are pivoted at 39 to the frame of the machine. The ends of the shaft 37 extend through scgmental clearance slots 40 and are adapted to be locked in dierent positions of adjustment by a thumb nut 41. The connection of the comb with the driving shaft is such that as the driving shaft rotates the combs will describe a closed curve, moving upward against the pads and then rearward to the limit of their excursion, then downward and upward against the pads.

To provide for moving the lower or stationary pad away from the upper pad, and so stop the operation of the machine, hooks l2 are connected with the lower shaft and the lower ends of these hooks united by a coupling bar 4:3 which is connected at the center by a link 44 with a latch 45. A bunch of hair is first combed out so that the hairs stand substantially parallel with each other and the hairs at one end even and fastened by a string and the bunch soaped. The latch l5 is then moved outward to disengage the socket I3 from the end of the upper shaft 10 so that that shaft may be turned upward away from the lower pad. The hairs are then placed over the lower pad and the upper pad returned to a position parallel with it where it is held by the socket 13. Motion is then imparted to the driving` shaft 29 and this motion through the gears and the links 24 and l2 oscillates the upper pad across the upper edge of the lower pad which is held in contact with it by the springs S. This oscillating movement of the upper pad across the upper edge of the lower pad and across the hairs between them will separate the hairs the points of which are in rear of the pads from the hairs having root ends in rear of the pads, and this operation continues until all the hairs with the points eX- tending rearward will be withdrawn or moved forward away from the roots extending rearward. The oscillation of the combs keeps these separated hairs from snarling. llien the hairs are sufficiently separated, the pad 17 is swung away from the lower pad and the hairs removed. Theroot ends of the hairs extending in one direction are then grasped and the hairs easily separated from the remaining mass. The remaining hairs necessarily stand in the same direction and are readily combed.

The operation will be clearly understood from the diagram shown in Figs. S and 9.

Fig. 8 shows the hairs as first placed in the machine, some of the roots on one side of the pads and the roots of the remaining hairs on the Opposite side. Fig. 9 shows the position after the operation has taken place across the hairs. In other words, the action, of the comb is in advance of the rearward pushing of the upper pad.

l. A machine for sorting hair having two pads arranged one above the other each provided with a narrow, curved, frictional contacting surface, one pad limited to vertical movement, means for moving the frictional surface of the other pad tangentially across the frictional surface of the vertically movable pad which normally stands in the path of the second named movable pad.

2. In a machine for sorting hair, the combination of two pads having narrow curved frictional surfaces, means for rocking one of the pads, the frictional surfaces of the pads having smaller radii than the radius of the motion of the curved surface of the rocking pad.

3. In a machine for sorting hair, the combination of two pads one above the other, means for rocking the upper pad, means for exerting an'upward pressure on the lower pad, each pad provided with a Ycurved frictional surface, said surfaces being maint-ained in contact for a portion of their extent by said upward pressure, said curved surfaces each having a smaller radius than the radius of the motion of the contacting portions of said rocking pad whereby the plane of the tangency of the two pads is constantly changed during the time of operation. Y

4. In a machine for sorting hair, the combination of two pads, one pad mounted above the other, a pair of comb-arms carrying combs at their upper ends, said combs arranged parallel with the axes of and on one side of said pads, a. driving shaft, connecti'ons between the driving shaft and pads, whereby the upper pad will sweep back and forth across the upper edge of the lower' pad,

and crank and link connections between the driving shaft and comb arms whereby the combs successively describe closed curves moving away from the lower edge of the upper pad.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPI-I NOGUER-USALL. Vitnesses:

FREDERIC C. EARLE, CLARA L. VEED.

llO

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

